Research lead: Jon Hyett
Research team: Yafeng Ma, Jane Tooher, Jessica Ramos, Sumedha Buwa, Valeria Ristovski, Duncan Villanueva, Kate Pendlebury, Andrea Vincente, Branka Nenic
Research area: Obstetrics and Women’s Health
Name of Project:
Prediction and prevention of preterm birth through novel screening program
What was the health problem that led you to carry out your research?
Extreme preterm birth affects about 1% of babies born in Australia. This means approximately eight babies each day are born before 28 weeks. At the margins of viability (22 to 24 weeks), each additional day in utero equates to a 2-3% improvement in survival and rates of neurodevelopmental complications such as cerebral palsy fall dramatically after 28 to 30 weeks. Preventing extreme preterm birth is a priority.
Describe the research achievement and its impact.
The obstetric research group is working to improve prediction – allowing prevention – of preterm birth, through a screening program that will identify women who have significant risk at 12 weeks’ gestation.
The project involves:
- Collaborating with epidemiologists in Victoria and Queensland to validate UK risk prediction models to establish whether they can be used in the South Western Sydney local population;
- Working with international partners to establish whether changes in the vaginal environment (microbiome) can be used both to predict risk but also to predict protective factors that naturally mitigate risk of preterm birth; and
- Participating in a NSW based NHMRC-funded collaboration to look at the underlying genomics of preterm birth.
Our vision is that we will be able to ‘meld’ these research advances to better predict and prevent preterm birth; preventing tragedies affecting women and their families.
